Powering Agriculture: Voices of the Energy Grand Challenge for Development

In developing countries, three out of four people living in poverty have incomes tied to agriculture. Most of these farms lack access to energy. 1.4 billion people do not have access to energy. Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development (PAEGC) seeks to identify and support new and sustainable approaches to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy solutions for increasing agriculture productivity and/or value in developing countries. Hear some of the voices of Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development from Kenya, where only five percent of the farmers have electricity. But that can change…

Your ideas can help farmers find innovative clean energy solutions to power their farms and empower their lives. Be part of the solution. Join Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development at http://www.poweringag.org.

Video Transcript

In developing countries, three out of four people living in poverty have incomes tied to agriculture. Most of these farms lack access to energy. 1.4 billion people do not have access to energy. Only five percent of the farmers in Kenya have electricity. But that can change…
"You see the way she is pumping water over there? We normally do that. But we want solar panels because we get tired. There's even wind technology, if you want it. It's coming. It is possible."
"I used to fetch water from the river and a nearby village. We couldn't get water to the harvest. These days, with the windmill, we can."
"I had never heard of solar panels but today we are making use of them on our farm. Life is changing. Now, with these tools, people can work. We are seeing wonderful changes."
"In the past, we could go five years with no rain. Today, as you can see, water is plentiful and the crops are healthy. We don't know what other technologies are out there, but we're open to learning about them, if there are others like this that are good."
"We've incorporated the Flexi Biogas technology. On top of just using the gas as a cooking fuel, and to run internal combustion engines for generators and shaftcuts and water pumps, another application—you can dry food. Anything, from all sorts of fruit, all sorts of vegetables using the biogas technology."
"We sell what we grow to the community and we invest the money in our farm. Life used to be so hard, fetching gallons of water from wells ten kilometers away. But now life is changing and everything is getting better. We need more ideas like these."
Your ideas can help farmers find innovative clean energy solutions to power their farms and empower their lives. Be part of the solution. Join Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development at www.poweringag.org
Powering Agriculture is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Duke Energy, OPIC and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.